Story

Días Eternos - In Venezuela, Women in Prison Awaiting Trial Endure Crowded Conditions

Daniela, at center in a pink shirt, is serving a four-year sentence for robbery inside an overcrowded detention center with few resources. Image by Ana Maria Arevalo. Venezuela, 2018.

Daniela, at center in a pink shirt, is serving a four-year sentence for robbery inside an overcrowded detention center with few resources. Image by Ana Maria Arevalo. Venezuela, 2018.

The room looks like the aftermath of a party out of control: six women sprawled out on sheets, legs intertwined. Behind them, walls slathered with graffiti and red hearts. Look closer at the writing on the wall, amid the scrawled declarations of love and longing, and reality hits.

“I don’t expect anyone to believe me,” reads one message, “because I believe in no one.”

A bruised transgender woman is forced to wait for trial confined with male prisoners, many of whom abuse her. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2017.

A bruised transgender woman is forced to wait for trial confined with male prisoners, many of whom abuse her. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2017.

Betania hugging her daughter on a visitor day at a Caracas detention center. She received humanitarian aid that enabled her to breastfeed her child once a day. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2017.

Betania hugging her daughter on a visitor day at a Caracas detention center. She received humanitarian aid that enabled her to breastfeed her child once a day. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2017.

Keylis, 28, top, and Hainni, 17, below left, at La Yaguara Detention Center, Caracas, chat with male prisoners locked up just a few meters away from them. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018.

Keylis, 28, top, and Hainni, 17, below left, at La Yaguara Detention Center, Caracas, chat with male prisoners locked up just a few meters away from them. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018.

Whether from nihilism, hopelessness or grim resignation, that sentiment fits the setting: a packed Venezuelan jail cell where women — most awaiting trial and presumed innocent — wait for months, if not years. Though these women, some of them pregnant, are normally expected to be held for only 45 days, Venezuela’s unending political and social crises have rendered that notion a memory.

Ana María Arévalo Gosen has been documenting these women who wind up in overcapacity jails for long stretches as part of her project “Eternal Days,” a phrase that sums up a situation where hope is elusive. Ms. Arévalo Gosen, a Venezuelan photographer now living in Europe, said she found a cramped world of little light, no medical care, water or privacy.

“The justice system, like everything else in Venezuela, doesn’t function,” said Ms. Arévalo Gosen, 30, who produced the project with a Women Photograph + Nikon grant and a travel grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. “They spend all day in little cells, sitting or standing, but doing nothing. The pregnant women have lots of infections, they cannot move. It’s not healthy.”

Twenty-two female detainees await trial for months or even years at La Yaguara Detention Center. They are packed into a 9-by-12-foot cell where most sleep on mattresses on the floor. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018.

Twenty-two female detainees await trial for months or even years at La Yaguara Detention Center. They are packed into a 9-by-12-foot cell where most sleep on mattresses on the floor. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018. 

Scars on a female detainee’s legs at La Alcaidesa, Merida, that she said were the result of fights. Many women also injure themselves. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018.

Scars on a female detainee’s legs at La Alcaidesa, Merida, that she said were the result of fights. Many women also injure themselves. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018. 

Maria, 35, kisses her daughter during visitation hours at Poli-Valencia, Carabobo. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018.

Maria, 35, kisses her daughter during visitation hours at Poli-Valencia, Carabobo. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018.

A group of female detainees warm up before exercising under guard inside Ana Maria Campos II Prison, Maracaibo, a “closed” prison — or a center for “feminine formation,” as authorities call it. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018.

A group of female detainees warm up before exercising under guard inside Ana Maria Campos II Prison, Maracaibo, a “closed” prison — or a center for “feminine formation,” as authorities call it. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018. 

Ms. Arévalo Gosen became aware of the conditions of these women a few years ago during a conversation with a journalist. Working through acquaintances, she connected with a police officer who she said gave her access. She has since traveled to various regions of Venezuela to pursue her project, looking at the jails run by the police and other investigative and law enforcement agencies.

The offenses that landed these women in custody range from theft and drug possession to extortion and homicide, with some having been held for as long as three or five years before trial. In other cases, because prisons are so crowded, some have been returned to these jails to serve their sentences.

“The police are not used to this,” she said. “These places have become repositories of criminals, and there is no time to process all of them as quickly.”

Prisoners pass the time playing dominos in an outdoor common area at Ana Maria Campos I Prison, Maracaibo, while others watch movies, read old magazines or write notes. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018.

Prisoners pass the time playing dominos in an outdoor common area at Ana Maria Campos I Prison, Maracaibo, while others watch movies, read old magazines or write notes. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018. 

Yusbelis Bustamante, 23, cries while showing her injuries from a fight with another inmate at La Yaguara Detention Center, Caracas. She is 4 months pregnant, but in her seven weeks of detention, she had not received any medical checkups. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018.

Yusbelis Bustamante, 23, cries while showing her injuries from a fight with another inmate at La Yaguara Detention Center, Caracas. She is 4 months pregnant, but in her seven weeks of detention, she had not received any medical checkups. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018.

This precinct holds 58 women who wait for their trial. The only light they have comes from a single bulb. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018.

This precinct holds 58 women who wait for their trial. The only light they have comes from a single bulb. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018.

Not surprisingly, she said, making it through this experience required family in the outside — to bring food and other necessities — and allies on the inside. Some police officers charge people money when they come to bring food twice a day, she said. Those visits also allow relatives to bring an inmate’s infant.

At the same time, the mixing of people awaiting trial with convicted criminals worries local advocates, Ms. Arévalo Gosen said.

“These people will come out worse, not better,” she said. “They are not going to feel reformed or forgiven by society.”

Local and international human rights groups have decried the conditions these women have been subjected to, noting that the country’s prisons have a long history of deplorable conditions. But Ms. Arévalo Gosen said there was often little popular sympathy in a society where crime and violence have spun out of control.

“Who cares about people in jail?” she said. “People say they are the worst of society, the ones who stain our society, who want to kill and rob us. But if this situation does not improve and judicial system isn’t fixed, these people will all come out worse.”

Yaneidi Nazaret, 17, cries besides her mother, who was charged 50 Bolivares to enter La Yaguara Detention Center, Caracas, to visit her daughter and bring her food. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018.

Yaneidi Nazaret, 17, cries besides her mother, who was charged 50 Bolivares to enter La Yaguara Detention Center, Caracas, to visit her daughter and bring her food. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018. 

Male and female detainees attend an evangelical service at La Yaguara Detention Center, Caracas, where a preacher discussed forgiveness and reflection, followed by a religious play and a shared meal. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018.

Male and female detainees attend an evangelical service at La Yaguara Detention Center, Caracas, where a preacher discussed forgiveness and reflection, followed by a religious play and a shared meal. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018.

Erika, 42, being held at Poli-Naguanagua, Carabobo, for 73 days for disrupting public safety, is the first woman detained under the new “Abetting of Hate” law. She was protesting against the country's severe food shortages. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018.

Erika, 42, being held at Poli-Naguanagua, Carabobo, for 73 days for disrupting public safety, is the first woman detained under the new “Abetting of Hate” law. She was protesting against the country's severe food shortages. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018. 

A group of prisoners playing a game of dominos in an outdoor common area in Ana Maria Campos I Prison, Maracaibo. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018.

A group of prisoners playing a game of dominos in an outdoor common area in Ana Maria Campos I Prison, Maracaibo. Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018.

Red lipstick kiss marks and notes on the walls of La Yaguara Detention Center, Caracas, that read “Kymberlyng El Valle Loco” and “Yosolelves Lopez I love you kid.” Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018.

Red lipstick kiss marks and notes on the walls of La Yaguara Detention Center, Caracas, that read “Kymberlyng El Valle Loco” and “Yosolelves Lopez I love you kid.” Image by Ana María Arévalo. Venezuela, 2018.